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Hordak, though you would expect him. i think it's Orko! he "betrayed" the masters and the guy in the panel doesn't look like Hordak - neither like classic/Filmation, nor like DC Hordak. he's got a red/purple dress and blue arms. and the demons don't look like Horde staff at all.

It looks to me like they're going the "Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow" Mr. Mxyzptlk routine with Orko's design. His normal look probably was a friendly disguise for his demonic appearance. I assume he's gonna be revealed to be Horde Prime, and that's why he masked his face. It's also interesting that the Trollans are depicted not only as demons but seemingly having legs made from magic.

Personally, the vintage fan in me cries "horrible" about that. But accepting the DC canon as a new spin on things, I actually like the idea, it does have potential.

I've read the comic a couple times now, and while I don't mind the reveal about

Orko being the huge evil behind everything (possibly revealed to be Horde Prime)

, I have huge problems with how the basic concept of the Masters of the Universe is changed.

If everything revealed in the issue is true, then

the power comes from He-Man himself and is only accessible for him, while Castle Grayskull is just an old fortress without any magic at all.

In that case, I gotta say that DC has failed at understanding what MotU is about. Its basic concept was that whoever rules Castle Grayskull also has control about its powers, which make him into literally THE Master of the Universe. And depending on the canon, the Sword of Power was the very KEY to enter Castle Grayskull.
Now, we're stuck with "Masters of Eternia", cause there is no power which can be conquered to rule the universe. There's just that power which makes Adam into a superhero and ain't reachable for anybody else, cause it is within Adam/He-Man. And there's no point to fight about Castle Grayskull or the sword at all.

It never occurred to me the possibility of Orko being Horde Prime. I can't say I'm a fan of that. I would like to know more about this "betrayal" When did it occur? What was it? And how does this all tie to the Hordes return to Eternia?

thats just simply moronic. there is no back story to it, it adds nothing to the character and just screams ohh look at us we're edgy and dark ooooooooooooooooooooooooh

i loved this series and enjoyed almost everything aside form the extremely **** poor designs and art styles (blonde teela adds nothing to the characters and makes her the exact same as many other characters) but this ending bloody hell

and also

everyone knows adam is he-man and skeletor is his uncle. ummm what

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I'm happy that DC are doing an ongoing comic, but I felt underwhelmed with the mini-series overall. Every issue felt like it was dragging its heels and nothing really happened for the most part. Even with issue #6 it felt like it couldn't be bothered finishing its own story. There were some nice concepts, but much like the Skeletor origin, it just didn't bother to pursue any of them. The mini-series had a decent scope within which to work, but just settled for the 'Adam meets bad guy, still cannot remember who he is' rinse and repeat. They didn't even bother to explain how Skeletor ended up putting a spell on everyone. The writing seemed incredibly lazy at times.

As for the Orko twist. I think that's the only thing that I'm worried about. I'm half expecting some sort of explanation in the ongoing that makes it so Orko isn't evil.

Also, did anyone else upon seeing the Masters together think to themselves "where the hell have you been"? They had six issues to tell a story which could have included them. Barring Randor, Teela and Man-at-arms (albeit barely) they were nowhere to be seen. Now they just suddenly turn up at some random pub? And for what? So He-man/Adam can slink off to fight Skeletor alone because "he's totally expecting me to come with an army".

Though I did find it funny when Teela called Adam/He-man a ****** (minues the er).

All in all, the six issue mini-series isn't a great start to the new DC comic. However I take comfort in that the digital comics, though not without their own problems, have been far more enjoyable and apart from one or two little things the main comic hasn't gone against the MotU concept for the most part.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by the_ultimate_evil

and also

That was one of the few points I appreciated... even if they did next to nothing with it. I absolutely want both Adam and He-man in any incarnation of MotU, but I never felt the 'secret identity' really went anywhere interesting with him. I think Adam living in a world that now knows he is He-man is a lot more interesting and fresh compared to just doing the same old thing. I just wish they did more with it in the comic like having Adam talk to his father or Teela and also see how Man-at-arms would explain himself to Randor and his daughter Teela etc.

The origin story was a bit thin, but the art was very well rendered and atmospheric.
I loved how the sword was hidden behind a tapistry in a secret compartment inside the wall, like the one on the 200X Castle Grayskull. A good read, but nothing spectacular either.

The DC series on the other hand has come a long way but issue 6 finally delivered what I was hoping to get out of a new He-Man comic. As far as the art's concerned, I have some minor nitpicks about some panels, but Pop Mhan is definitely a huge improvement over Philip Tan and except for a couple of lackluster panels I was very happy with how #6 turned out. I hope he keeps up this standard for the next series.

The dialogue on the other hand is still crummy. Although Skeletor has some nice moments, yet it's quite tiresome how Keith Giffen desperately tries to come up with 'cool' sounding discourse. Some lines are truly beyond embarassing, like Teela's "what if he puts another whammy on you?" and the awful wisecracks during the fights. I also found the talk about Skeletor's ego to be a bit aggravating. Giffen just went on and on about it, to the point that He-Man was psychoanalyzing Skeletor in the midst of battle. Even the crystal skull rebuked the fallen overlord in the end.

The following I'm going to put between spoiler tags, lest I ruin it for the rest:

I was completely blown away by how they worked Orko in. I didn't like his spying aspect from the bios, however I do appreciate that they went all out on him and completely reimagined the character in a way which I guess nobody ever anticipated. While I enjoyed this rather surprising twist, I'm still a bit sad that we won't see the little fellow in this incarnation of MOTU.

So glad that DC left the Filmation's campy kid's stuff behind in favour of a more dark and serious tale of betrayal and vengeance. The level of violence was remarkable to MOTU standards: He-Man ruthlessly stabbing and slashing his foes, Skeletor beheading the Sorceress, Battlecat chewing on one of Evil-Lyn's warriors ... awesome!!!

To me the biggest accomplishments of the DC comics are the introduction of graphic violence, the acknowledgment of blonde Teela and the abolishment of the dual identity (which was long overdue).

"A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked."

Alright, I haven’t read issue 6 yet so just a heads up and say to everyone who has to carry on using spoiler tags to discuss this so-called twist. Everyone's been good so far, anyway. Can't wait to read it.

This was an outstanding issue! This is not your kiddie He-man anymore. This is blood and guts He-man at war with an evil force. That little plot twist was really cool. I can't wait to see where they are going with this.

The secret identity thing is gone. It looks like they went back to the Alcala days with some of the old school ideas, but this is a new take. We already saw Adora as a mass murderer, why would you guys be shocked to see He-man as a brutal barbarian?

I can see all new incarnations of He-Man doing away with the secret identity. I think we will definitely see no secret identity in the movie. Maybe they just see it as an extra burden that’s entirely expendable?

I still think MotU needs both Adam and He-man. I don't want to see another movie where there is no Adam. We had that already.

TBH, I think it’s more likely that Adam will be the main character, but just that once he “becomes” He-Man I don’t think he’ll turn back. Basically, I think that He-Man and Adam will more or less be one and the same.

TBH, I think it’s more likely that Adam will be the main character, but just that once he “becomes” He-Man I don’t think he’ll turn back. Basically, I think that He-Man and Adam will more or less be one and the same.

If it's a physical transformation like we're used to then it wouldn't make sense. He'd still be giving up being himself. That would be silly. If however becoming He-man is just him becoming a better fighter then that would just be lame. I don't think you can have He-man and Adam without a physical transformation.

Also, if it came to a movie I would look forward to two different actors trying to keep some continuity with one another's performances to communicate to the audience they're really the same character.

We have a huge snow storm here. Been snowing all day.....and it's killing me to not be able to pick my copy up!!! I haven't read any of the spoilers and have avoided the other thread but the snow really needs to stop so I can get this! (and no, I'm not getting digital because I'm loyal to my comic shop who saves these for me...and I'm not buying it twice!)

*sigh* I'm going to refrain from over analyzing this one and call it like I see it.

This ISN'T the Filmation MOTU!!! I wish that canon would quit being the one that every incarnation of MOTU is always compared to! Filmation isn't the definitive MOTU and never has been.

The first incarnation of MOTU was the one about He-Man being a warrior of some jungle tribe pulled into the battle for Eternia. Really THAT is what should be considered 'Canon Prime' in my opinion.

Now, back to the topic....

For a six issue miniseries, I thought this one had a decent conclusion and a completely original idea being....

...Orko either having been turned into or always having been some kind of mask for an evil overlord of power!

It's actually something freaking different instead of the same old, same old MOTU stories that have been done to death by everyone and their grandma. I'm not knocking the classic MOTU at all, but just saying that it's time to do some new stories and new ideas with these characters.

So, with this new spin on MOTU from DC there are still some glimmers in and about that can appease some classic fans a little bit. I, on the other hand, have enjoyed the majority of this new take and feel it is establishing it's own canon to follow without completely having to take me through yet another massive tired old reboot that has to re-tell everyone's origin. The one shots with the origins of He-Man and Skeletor for this new canon were good enough for me without having to spend months going through a tired re-boot story.

As for a comment about this new canon being more the 'Masters of Eternia'..........well, the MOTU franchise has always taken place on Eternia (excluding that version set on Primus), the majority of every story and battle has always taken place on Eternia so the franchise has more or less always been about Eternia and the peoples waging war on it.

Masters of the Universe perhaps is a term applied to our heroes and villains as a metaphor to talk about what Eternians consider the known universe. Same idea with always having called He-Man the 'Most Powerful Man In The Universe'. It's just been a title to use concerning the strongest man on the planet, Eternia in this case.

My only question really is...

.....Where exactly has Sir Laserlot been this entire time?? The first issue of the digital first MOTU title told us his story and then had him wrenched to present day Eternia with that artifact thingy that Skeletor wanted to use, with the idea being Laserlot was going to play some kind of role in the mini-series. Well, we haven't seen him since that one issue. Kind of a waste of time to introduce a new character and then never use him again.

The Origin of He-Man issue was pretty decent as well. All I'm going to say in closing is I like what I've seen so far and look forward to this new incarnation of MOTU unfold and tell some new stories.

Why call it "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" if it's not a continuation of the classic TV series of the same name? Yes, it's going to be darker, much darker, but it should still tie into the same basic chronology we know and love.

I have a few points / questions:

1) The twist with Orko just doesn't work. It's like what they did at the end of the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie. Fans of Scrappy-Doo were annoyed that a character they liked had been turned into the bad guy, and the Scrappy haters didn't even like it either as it was such an out of character thing for him to do.

2) The timeline didn't change back. Is the main series going to continue in this altered version of Eternia? I do not like that idea.